Figure Skating: Arm Position and Jumping Distance

Broad Question

Will arm position effect the distance you jump?

Specific Question

How much will pulling your arms in effect the distance you jump as opposed to keeping your arms out while doing a Waltz jump on ice?

Variables

Independent Variable:

Arm Position

Dependent Variable:

Jumping distance (cm)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

• same person jumping
• Same type of jump
• time for skaters to rest between each jump.

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that pulling your arms in will make you jump further.

Graph of Hypothesis

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Experimental Design

For my experiment, I will be testing to see if you jump further when you pull your arms in or keep them out when figure skating. I will have three people involved in my experiment. All of these people will be jumping ten times with their arms out, and ten times with their arms pulled in. I will conduct my experiment at the Ham Arena. I will conduct twenty trials per person, so all together sixty trials. For recording data, I will be writing down data on a printed out spreadsheet and later transferring it to the same spreadsheet online. The entire experiment will be documented with a digital camera. I will be taking pictures of all of the skaters, both jumping with arms in and arms out. then, I will save and upload them on to a computer. I will email the pictures to my Google account so I can access them at school. I will save them to my x-drive and upload them on to my wiki.

Materials List

1. Data Table
2. Pencil

3. Tape Measure
4. Three People (including myself)
5. Digital Camera

Detailed Procedure

1. Go to the Ham Arena with all materials.
2. Have the first skater waltz jump with arms out
3. Measure (using tape measure) the distance from where the skater took out to where they landed.
4. Record data.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 nine more times.
6. Now have the first person waltz jump with their arms pulled in.
7. Repeat steps 3-4
8. Repeat steps 6-7 nine more times.
9. Repeat steps 2-8 with two others skaters.

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Background Research

Skaters generate angular momentum by pushing off the ice with their skates. Pushing off the ice also generates vertical velocity. Vertical velocity gets a skater high enough in the air to do the spin by producing forces from the jump during takeoff. What happens is an action and a reaction. As the leg muscles contract and the leg pushes down against the ice, the ice creates a force that pushes back on the legs, creating vertical velocity. The more velocity a skater has at takeoff, the higher and farther the jump. This is the Law of Projectile Motion – the more velocity you have at takeoff, the higher you will jump.


As the skater sores higher, gravity slows him/her down, until the skater reaches a peak in which there is no more upward movement. Throughout this phase, kinetic energy is being converted into potential gravitational energy. As the skater falls, the potential energy gets converted back to kinetic energy, and the skater hits the ground with full kinetic energy


Pressure on ice from a skater’s weight melts the ice. This allows skaters to glide along a thing layer of water. Also, when skaters push on the ice, it creates friction. Because the friction creates heat, it melts the ice.


Ice skating jumps requires lifting force that propels the skater into the air. This force can be created by pushing the entire skate blade against the ice surface by shifting the body's weight to the ball of the foot on an edge or from a poll vaulting motion from tapping the toe into the ice which requires a coordinated push against the ice from an edge and tapping motion that suddenly stops linear momentum of the body, thus launching the skater into the air.



https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTChMhXEJpzjo4K76dSmFWjuC8AeLs-4YjZFHX3NCp9sJ1fMQzoMQ



https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSISOxS9CNzkL-duIxVkQ5de_IR_gA-Y-LEIOlj-au1ZmB9Dibj

References

Biskup, Agnieszka. Hockey How it Works. Melrose Park, IL: Capstone Press, 2010. Print.


Spangler, Steve. "The Science of Figure Skating at the Olympics." Blog. making Science Fun. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jan. <http://www.stevespangler.com/teaching-moments/the-science-of-figure-skating-at-the-olympics/>.


"Theoretical Physics of Figure Skating." Athlete Concerns. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jan. <http://iceskatingresources.org/TheoreticalPhysicsOfSkating.html>.


"Theoretical Physics of Ice Skating." Skating Information and Resources. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jan. <http://iceskatingresources.org/PhysicsOfSkating.html>.

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Results

Data Table

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

The original purpose of this experiment was to find out if changing your arm position would affect the distance you jump. To test this, I was going to have three people do a Waltz jump on ice ten times with their arms extended out, and ten times with their arms pulled in. The results of this experiment were that pulling in your arms made you jump further. For the first jumper, the average with arms out was 170.9 cm. For arms in, the average was 200.9 cm. For the second jumper, the average for arms out was 158.9 cm. For arms in, the average was 181.1 cm. For the third jumper, the average for arms out was 137 cm, while the average for arms in was 156.4 cm.

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Discussion

My hypothesis was that pulling your arms in would make you jump further. My results do support my hypothesis. There is a relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Some patterns and trends that my data shows are the more you pull your arms in, the further you will jump. I think that the test I did went smoothly. I think that because I followed my procedure completely with no issues. If I could improve my experiment, I would have more trials with with people at different levels of skating ability, so I could get more specific data. An interesting future study might involve trying this experiment with different types of jumps, to see if it has the same affect.